


Causatum

by BlackDog9314



Series: Rhapsodic 'Verse Time-Stamps [14]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Caretaker Dean, Gen, M/M, POV Dean Winchester, Rape Aftermath, Rhapsodic 'verse, time-stamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 21:13:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11632029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackDog9314/pseuds/BlackDog9314
Summary: Dean's heart is broken.





	Causatum

**Author's Note:**

> This time-stamp occurs somewhere after the assault and somewhere before Dean and Lisa's split.  
> To read the main work these one shots are written to accompany, click [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2660231/chapters/5945528).

Sometimes, it felt as if Castiel had become a different person almost overnight.

He’d always been quiet and introverted, but now he was obviously wary of other people. When he and Dean walked across campus, Castiel looked over his shoulder at least a half-dozen times per trip, his stance closed-off and his expression guarded. Even around people they were friends with, Dean caught Castiel surreptitiously taking steps back to ensure there were a few extra inches between them; once when Charlie hugged him, Dean was certain Castiel was about to start yelling. A muscle had ticked in his clenched jaw, and he’d closed his eyes tightly before Charlie decided their hug was over and had backed away.

At night, Castiel shook in his sleep. Dean usually lay beside him in the narrow bed, awake to make sure he didn’t roll himself off of its edge or scratch at his arms and belly in his sleep in the throes of a nightmare. 

He felt like skin and bone when Dean wrapped him in his arms to calm him behind closed doors, his skin sallow and clammy. Dean could tell, now, when his friend was about to have an anxiety attack. He recognized the way Cas’s hands would shake, the tightness that set in around his tired eyes, the glisten of room-temperature sweat erupting on his skin.

When he wasn’t with Castiel, Dean wondered how he was doing.

When he took Lisa to the coffee shop to spend an hour or two with her, he thought of all the things he’d said to Cas that day and wondered if they'd been right. When Castiel left to go to his classes, Dean thought of new ways he could try and get him to eat. When he was stemming the flow of his bloody nose in John’s hall bathroom, Dean thought of the way Cas had stopped giving a shit about both shaving and wearing clean clothes.

Dean felt more helpless than he ever had in his life.

What was the use in making Cas food he wouldn’t eat? Or in doing loads of laundry he’d forget to wear?

So, while Castiel slept, Dean lay awake, listening to the sound of the other boy’s breaths and waiting for him to start shaking.  


End file.
